> In the history of the world, economists and government planners have never been able to manage an economy better than the capitalisic model of individuals in pursuit of their own goals.
What is an example of a successful state that has chosen between these two models? The successful economies are all mixed economies, with a strong role for both government planning and private competition. Germany is perhaps the canonical example of following this mixed-economy model as an explicit theory (vs. just stumbling into it). Other successful countries mostly deviate a little to one side or the other: the Nordic countries traditionally have more planning than Germany does (especially around infrastructure, urban planning, and major industrial initiatives), while the U.S. traditionally has less. But we're talking about modest variations: the U.S. public sector is ~35-40% of GDP, Germany's is ~40-45% of GDP, and the Nordic countries are at ~50-55% of GDP. Nobody is running a successful economy with a public sector at ~5-10% of GDP.
I suspect the Chinese mixed model is also going to prove quite dominant in the 21st century. Compared to the European social market economies, it's less social, but more centrally planned, which may or may not be an advantage.
What is an example of a successful state that has chosen between these two models? The successful economies are all mixed economies, with a strong role for both government planning and private competition. Germany is perhaps the canonical example of following this mixed-economy model as an explicit theory (vs. just stumbling into it). Other successful countries mostly deviate a little to one side or the other: the Nordic countries traditionally have more planning than Germany does (especially around infrastructure, urban planning, and major industrial initiatives), while the U.S. traditionally has less. But we're talking about modest variations: the U.S. public sector is ~35-40% of GDP, Germany's is ~40-45% of GDP, and the Nordic countries are at ~50-55% of GDP. Nobody is running a successful economy with a public sector at ~5-10% of GDP.
I suspect the Chinese mixed model is also going to prove quite dominant in the 21st century. Compared to the European social market economies, it's less social, but more centrally planned, which may or may not be an advantage.